Should we grade teachers on student performance?

Should teachers be judged on student performance? Is it a fair assessment of their skills as educators?

A recent study published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis is the latest in a number of forms of research that cast doubt on whether it is feasible for states to evaluate teachers based partially on student test scores. Research shows us that little to no correlation between high quality teaching and the appraisals these teachers are given.

We have seen a sharp rise in the number of states that have turned to teacher-evaluation systems based on student test scores. The rapid implementation has been fueled by the Obama administration making the teacher-evaluation system mandatory for states who want to receive the Race to the Top grant money or receive a waiver from the 2002 federal education act, No Child Left Behind. Already the District of Columbia and thirty-five states have placed student achievement as a significant portion in teacher evaluations. Only 10 states don’t necessitate student test scores to be factored into teacher evaluations.

Many states also use VAMs, or value-added models, which are algorithms to uncover how much teachers contribute to student learning while keeping constant factors such as demographics in mind.

These teacher-evaluation systems have drummed up controversy and even legal challenges in states like Texas, Tennessee and Florida when educators were assessed using test scores of students they never taught.

Just last month, the American Statistical Association urged states and school districts against VAM systems to make personnel decisions. Recent studies have found that teachers are responsible for up to 14 percent of a student’s test score, in combination with other factors.

In my opinion, we need to make sure students are exposed to high quality teachers. But is it fair to subject teachers to tough standards based on how students test? I do not believe so, especially in underprivileged areas. If we continue to scrutinize teachers with these types of stressful evaluations, it will only discourage teachers from taking jobs in urban and minority schools – perhaps where they are needed the very most.

Matthew Lynch

Dr. Lynch is an award winning writer, activist. He spent seven years as a K-12 teacher – an experience that gave him an intimate view of the challenges facing genuine education reform.

With that experience behind him, he has focused the second stage of his career on researching topics related to education reform, the achievement gap, and teacher education. What Dr. Lynch has found is that improving teacher education is an essential component in closing the achievement gap.

Dr. Lynch's articles and op eds appear regularly in the Huffington Post, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, and Education Week. He's also written numerous peer-reviewed articles, which have appeared in academic journals such as AASA Journal of Scholarship & Practice, International Journal of Progressive Education, Academic Leadership Journal, and others. In addition, he has authored and edited a number of books on school reform and school leadership.

Please visit his website at www.drmattlynch.com for more information.

There Are 6 Comments for This Post

johanna ·
May 25, 2014 9:49 pm

It seems that continual evaluations based on student performance would lead to teacher burnout. In the area where I used to teach, students and parents alike valued sports and other extra-curricular activities over homework and studies. Some student’s test scores, as a result, aren’t indicative of the teaching.

The focus of education, of course, should be learning in the classroom, which is evaluated as student performance. If having a good teachor or a bad teacher only influences up to 14 percent of student performance, then maybe the wake up call here is that teachers don’t really matter as much as we’ve thought, and school districts shoud take a hard look at the factors responsible for 86 percent or more of student performance.

Why do you say this? Yes, to a degree, you are right. Teachers only guide students but they also ensure that these students actually learn. If they aren’t making sure the students have a knowledge base to be successful in the next grade or the next step in life, they should be held accountable.

If you want to see why using tests to evaluate teachers is wrong, read my summary of Rethinking Value-Added Models in Education: Critical Perspective on Tests and Assessment-Based Accountability by Audrey Amrein-Beardsley. http://bit.ly/1zaiI6Y If you are looking for a number to judge teachers by try the number of discipline referrals per student. This one is like golf in that low scores are better.

I agree with this opinion piece, but if you are going to drop this line – “Research shows us that little to no correlation between high quality teaching and the appraisals these teachers are given” – then there ought to be links to sources of that research.
Otherwise, the words are hollow.

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The Edvocate was created in 2014 to argue for shifts in education policy and organization in order to enhance the quality of education and the opportunities for learning afforded to P-20 students in America. What we envisage may not be the most straightforward or the most conventional ideas. We call for a relatively radical and certainly quite comprehensive reorganization of American’s P-20 system.

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